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Focus on Kindergarten


About Focus on K2 (Kindergarten)

Kindergarten students learn through our Focus on K2 curriculum. In BPS, we use the term K2 instead of kindergarten, referring to our five-year-old students. Focus on K2 was written to help teachers promote children’s creativity and their abilities to collaborate, communicate and think critically. It was written to develop essential literacy and numeracy skills. It was written to connect children with their city. It was written to give our K2 students the adventure in learning they deserve.

Pacing Calendar

Assessments

New! Early Childhood Assessment Guidance - Toolbox for all recommended and required assessments for all subjects pre-k through 2nd grade.

Kindergarten Rubric and Report Card

District Supported Reading Screeners


Launching Focus on K2

The first unit of Focus on K2 is designed to introduce children to the kindergarten community and to the routines and structures of the classroom. Activities are intentionally simple and open-ended at the start of the unit, building as time goes on and as children are able to manage the routines of centers.

See New and Upcoming in Focus on K2 for current curriculum updates (Sept. 2024)

Content by Unit

Unit 1 - Our Community

For many children, the kindergarten year is their first experience of being in a group beyond their family. If that group becomes a community that cares about each other and supports each other emotionally as well as intellectually, the school experience is a more positive one for children. A supportive learning community creates things together, gives each other feedback on their work, and raises and solves problems as a group. In this first unit of study, Our Community, the goal is for children and teachers to build relationships and form the foundation for a strong, interdependent community of learners, developing shared dispositions, language, and habits that will grow throughout the year. When children are part of a strong community, they are better poised to confront challenges that they will encounter in school and beyond.

See New and Upcoming in Focus on K2 for current curriculum updates (Sept. 2024)

Unit 2 - Animals & Habitats

Kindergarteners are naturally drawn to learning about animals. They tell and enjoy stories filled with animal characters and are curious to learn information about animals as well. They might have pets at home or see animals in their communities – a dog out for a walk, a squirrel in a tree, or ants on the sidewalk. In Animals and Habitats, this natural curiosity opens a door to deep learning about animals both familiar and unfamiliar to kindergarteners. Building off the previous unit, Our Community, children continue to explore concepts of living in a community, working with Beautiful Stuff, and Storytelling/Story Acting. Looking ahead, the concepts that children develop about animals and their habitats during this unit will come into play again in Our Earth, when the scope widens to consider people as stewards of the earth.  

Unit 3 - Construction

People construct; one of the defining characteristics of humanity is that we make. We make structures, institutions, rules, ideas, and works of art. Kindergartners are also makers. A defining characteristic of kindergarten-aged children is their initiative. Children may be particularly intrigued with structures and places they make for themselves: forts, homes, secret hideouts, and the like. They also have unique and valuable perspectives about what makes structures attractive, useful, and fair. The threads of community and citizenship continue from previous units. Themes of collaboration and group work reemerge from Unit 1 (Community), as you now guide children to consider how people collaborate in constructing. And from Unit 2 (Animals & Habitats), the focus on protecting and caring for animals is now extended to consider issues of fairness, equity, and access that arise when something is constructed.  

Unit 4 - Our Earth

Our kindergartners will inherit a complex world where scientific, environmental, social, and moral issues intertwine. In order to meet the opportunities and challenges of the 21st century, our children need an equally complex set of skills and abilities. During the Our Earth unit, children explore the natural world by investigating and researching the earth’s properties, focusing on its surface and plant life. Responsibility, sustainability, and stewardship for the environment, as individuals and as members of a community, are explored in literature, discussions, activities, and a Capstone Project.

The unit begins by fostering children’s intellectual and emotional connections with nature, as explored in Animals and Habitats. The second phase focuses on sustainable systems that reduce human impacts on the earth, such as recycle/reuse and food production/urban agriculture. The final phase engages the children as citizens, first introduced in Our Community, who can contribute to our earth. Drawing on the design process of Construction, children generate ideas for sustainable choices in their classrooms and school communities.

Boston Saves

All K2 kindergarten students receive children’s savings accounts with $50 for their future. These accounts come from Boston Saves, a collaborative program of BPS and the City of Boston that helps families save and plan for child’s future college or career training. You can support Boston Saves in your school by:

  • Talking with your students about saving and their dreams of the future

  • Serving as a Boston Saves School Coordinator to oversee implementation at your school

  • Attending Boston Saves Collaborative Learning Cohorts to improve the program

To learn more, visit the Boston Saves website or contact BostonSaves@boston.gov.

Remote Learning Guides

The following guides were developed for remote learning with the Focus curriculum. This material was produced for the 2020-2021 school year but remains archived here.

Focus on Early Learning